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The Manbottle Library  :  Trivia  :  Pork  :  ANSWER

ANSWER


Denmark.

Or the European Union (EU). Or Canada. Depending on how you look at the available data, any of these answers could be valid. Here's why…

Denmark exports more pork than any other single country in the world. You may have missed this because Denmark is part of the EU, and the USDA does not normally report on individual EU countries, preferring to look at the EU as a single entity. Denmark exports about 1.2 million metric tons of pork each year.

The EU, as a single entity, is the world's largest exporter of pork, even though it technically is not a single country. The EU as a whole exports about 1.3 million tons of pork.

On at least two occasions the USDA has stated that Canada was, or was projected to be, the world's largest pork exporting country. They reached this conclusion because in looking at EU countries, they exclude exports to other EU countries. (60% of Denmark's pork was exported to other EU countries, primarily Britain and Germany.) Thus, according to the UDSA, Canada emerges as the largest pork exporting country, excluding countries belonging to a larger economic union of countries. Canada exports about 800,000 tons of pork.

(Now if they ever combine reporting for NAFTA countries, we will have yet another answer.)

In case you are interested (I truly hope you have better things to worry about, but…), here are the actual numbers for 2001, the latest year for which all the numbers are available, along with preliminary numbers for 2002, where available:


Metric tons of pork exported, in 1000's:

Country/Entity20012002
Denmark (including exports to EU countries) 1,281   1,273*
European Union (not really a country) 1,235   1,300
Canada 727 800
United States 708 709
Denmark (excluding exports to EU countries)   469 461*
Brazil 337 400


* forecast as of Sept, 2002

sources…

http://ffas.usda.gov/dlp/circular/2002/02-10lp/pk_sum.pdf
http://www.fas.usda.gov/gainfiles/200203/135683673.pdf
http://www.fas.usda.gov/gainfiles/200209/145783989.pdf

J.P. and Kristy correctly answered "Denmark". Additionally, several others gave differing, but equally valid answers involving Canada and/or the EU.



WHO GOT IT RIGHT:  JP Weigt, Kristy Morgan, Robin Campbell, Jim Ahumada, Andie J, Allan Christensen, Marc Quinlivan, Yanitz Grinell, and Mark Mawhinney.



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